Lopes' Head Coach Lindsey Mahoney waited five years for this moment. Her seniors had waited almost that duration.
 
Turned out the wait was 4 ½ hours too long.
 
After rain, lightning and gusty winds throughout the day resulted in a 279-minute delay, the Grand Canyon University Women's Rugby team's quest for its first-ever national title in rugby 15's fell short at the hands of Stanford University, 36-19, Sunday night in the College Rugby Association of America Women's D1 Spring Championship in Houston, Texas. It was the Lopes' first appearance in a 15's national title match, and the loss foiled the Lopes' attempt at the first unbeaten season in its nine-year history. The win earned Stanford its first women's rugby national title since 2008.
 
The match was the sixth and final championship match of the CRAA XV Championship Weekend, ending over six hours later than its original 1PM Arizona time kickoff. Because of the combination of the steady rain falling on the Sabercat Stadium field and ten other teams grinding on it over two days, field conditions were nothing like what most of GCU's regular season matches were. The adjustment to that took its toll on the Lopes over the match's first 22 minutes, with the Cardinal being the aggressors early and often. Stanford cashed in on its first two drives, with Laura Bocek using a ball fake to sneak through the middle of the Lopes' defense for the first try just four minutes in; then Journey Washingtonhigh taking a nice flip near the try line to crash across seven minutes later. GCU tried to mount a drive, but once it stalled, the Cardinal marched down the field again, and despite the Lopes' best try line stand, Stanford's Marie Wilhelm made a gutsy dive to score and give the Cardinal a 17-0 edge in the 23rd minute.
 
"Stanford came out really hard in that first 20 minutes – making it a challenge from the beginning," said Mahoney. "While those first 20 minutes were what won them the match, I was proud of how our girls responded."
 
Finally, the resolve and quickness of the Lopes on the corners - combined with the punishing runs up the middle by Angelique Schrock - began to wear down the Cardinal. After a Lopes' drop-goal attempt in the 36^th minute unexpectedly clanged off the right goalpost, the undaunted Lopes stole the ball right back a minute later, and Lauren Campbell found a seam up the middle for GCU's first try of the night to close the deficit at the half to 17-5.
 
Opportunity "knocked-on" for the Lopes as Stanford didn't handle GCU's 2^nd-half kickoff cleanly. The knock-on gave the Lopes great field position that they cashed in two minutes later as Savonna McGlothan dove between the goal posts to cut the Cardinal lead to five. Instead of Stanford reeling from the miscue, though, they rebounded in rapid fashion, reversing field position by turning a blocked GCU kick into a try, and scoring three tries overall in the match's next 15 minutes to put the Lopes in an insurmountable hole. GCU's Autumn Coppock found the try zone one last time in the 65^th minute, but a couple of dropped passes in crucial spots in the 2^nd half prevented the Lopes from scoring again.
 

"I'm so proud of this team, since our seniors set the stage for the years to come," said Mahoney. "Our underclassmen have some big shoes to fill, but they have the ability to win us a national title in the years to come."
 
The Lopes finish the 2024 campaign with a 9-1 record.